


Rainbow Connection

by Giglet



Category: NSYNC
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-11
Updated: 2009-12-11
Packaged: 2017-10-04 08:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giglet/pseuds/Giglet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>JC didn't talk much about his time in LA. Chris finds out why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rainbow Connection

JC didn't talk much about his time in LA. Chris figured that JC had headed out there with high hopes but been worn down and tapped out without making headway into the Industry before finally coming home to his parents. JC didn't like talking about assholes or bad times, and he didn't like losing at anything. So that, Chris thought, was probably why JC didn't talk about the LA years.

It never occured to Chris that maybe JC couldn't talk about it.

There were some clues, though. In his room in Lou's house, JC had tacked a road map of LA to the wall. There was a big blue pushpin in one spot, and a sticky note pointing at it with the words, "Here be Monsters". Chris had memorized the name of the street. If he was ever in LA, he told himself one day when he was feeling protective of JC, he'd go meet JC's monsters and kick their asses.

And then there were the phone calls. Always on a land line, never on a cell, and JC would turn away from anyone else in the room and his voice would get softer somehow. Not low, like when he was talking sexy to a girl, but more like when he was talking to Brianna. Who was also a girl, but JC didn't talk sexy to Bri and he better *never* talk sexy to her if he didn't want Joey and Lance to beat his sorry ass all the way to Oklahoma.

"No, man, I know," JC said once where the others could overhear. "It's not fair, but she's gotta do what's best for her career, you know? Piggy can't be putting it second to your projects. Don't worry about the money -- hey, you know I wouldn't be giving you the money if I didn't want to." Afterwards, Joey had asked if it wasn't hard on the woman, having a nickname like "Piggy" but JC had just shrugged and said, "It's her name. She could change it if she wanted."

Chris picked up the phone at JC's house once. The caller ID showed an area code for LA. Chris talked to someone called Scooter, who wanted to talk to JC about some funky new hat he thought JC would like and about some sort of soda that someone called Beaker was drinking. Chris lost track of the conversation after that, but the soda was apparently psychoactive or something, because there was no way that any human could be doing what Beaker was doing. Or maybe this Scooter dude was the one on the drugs. He really did sound pretty young, though. Young enough to babble for a couple minutes before realizing that, in fact, he wasn't talking to JC. And embarrassed enough to mutter, "Sorry," and hang up immediately when he figured it out.

When Chris told JC about the call, he'd just laughed and said, "Scooter's like that, man." But he went into his bedroom and closed the door before calling Scooter back.

The last straw for Chris, though, was when JC got the package from that same street in LA, delivered to the Compound while they were fleshing out the next tour. At the coffee break, JC opened it and pulled out a bulky handknit rainbow sweater and a tape -- not pro, just a cheesy home-made cassette. Even though it was summertime in Orlando, JC struggled into the sweater and put on the tape immediately. The garage-band grunge with indistinct lyrics and completely insane drumming was _so_ not the sort of music that JC usually listened to, but there he was, beaming like the sun and pogoing around the game room like he didn't have a care in the world. And since it _was_ the sort of music that Chris usually listened to, he joined in and they did a little careful slamming until their break was over.

On their way back up to Tim's office, Chris said, "Hey, next time we're in LA, introduce me to your friends, okay?"

JC hesitated, "Um. They're... kinda shy. But I'll ask them." He grinned again, "I think they'd like you."

When the time came, Chris was a little weirded out about the nondisclosure agreements they wanted him to sign, but after that, he got along fine with even the strangest inhabitants of the house. There really were monsters, but not the type he'd imagined. His favorites were the big furry ones who'd wrestle with him.

Chris spent most of the hiatus jamming with the Electric Mayhem and thinking of maybe dying his hair blue, like Cookie's.

**Author's Note:**

> Crossover with the Muppet Movie, of course! Based on a real quote:   
> "I'm down with Grover, you know what I'm saying? He's skinny, he's cool." - JC


End file.
